Search This Blog

Friday, 2 June 2017

NO FOOD SO SCHOOLKIDS SENT HOME

For the second term running
children in Swaziland are being sent home from school because there is no food
to feed them.

The Swazi Government has
once again failed to deliver food, known locally as zondle, to poverty-stricken
areas of the kingdom.

The Swazi Observer reported on Wednesday (31 May 2017) that school
principals had not been told what was going on. Pupils in schools around the
Shiselweni and Lubombo regions which were hit by a severe drought now break
classes early or miss school altogether because of the shortage.

The newspaper quoted one school principal in the Shiselweni
region, saying, ‘Some of the pupils come to school without having eaten
anything and they rely on the feeding programme at school for food. They cannot stand the long hours on empty stomachs,
hence we cut the days short so they can concentrate and be able to grasp
something.’

The principal added, ‘The
availability of food in schools encourages pupils to come to school. So if
there is a shortage they then stay at home.’

She said some of the girls
were now dating ‘sugar daddies’ because they wanted pocket money to keep them
going during the day and night.

The Ministry of Education
and Training delivers about four 50kgs of rice and six to 10 to 50kgs of
mealie-meal, depending on the size of the school and beans in each school to
last a month.

The situation has not
changed since the start of the February 2017 school term.

According to the World
Food Program about 350,000 Swazi people from a population of 1.3 million need
assistance with food following the drought. Chronic
malnutrition is a main concern in Swaziland: stunting affects 26 percent of
children aged under five years.